Hidden Strength Soap Opera story collection
by LoveroftheFlame
Summary: This is a collection of stories set in the H.S. Soap Opera Universe. Link in my profile. They should be considered Soap Canon unless specified. Warning: Various ships including Zucest. Rated M for safety. Please visit us at the Soap! You will love it!
1. Intro to the Soap

Welcome to the wild and addicting world of the Hidden Strength Soap Opera! Before you head into the stories, let me give you a little background on our insanity.

Way back in December of '06, Kirschreich and I came up with the idea for a community fanfic challenge at the LJ comm we made for Avatar: The Last Airbender's Haru (Link in my profile). From there the insanity spread until before we knew it we were embroiled in a full-fledged RP… soap opera style.

The H.S. Soap follows the _Avatar_ cast into a modern day AU of massive proportions. Haru is the lead singer of The Goblin Kings, a rock band that also includes Sokka on guitar, Zuko on bass, and Aang on the drums. But these college boys' journey to fame is not as easygoing as it may seem. Love, lies, and intrigue abound, as the entire cast is thrown headfirst into the story. The soap has something for everyone, with more pairings and characters than you'll know what to do with!

If you want to read a mega summary of the entire soap with links to the different conversations go here: (Link in my profile)

We also have character bios that will help to give you a deeper understanding of them. (Link in my profile)

Now on to the fun!

LoveroftheFlame


	2. One First Kiss

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender and am making no money from this story.

Authors note: This takes place seven years before the events in the soap. It gives a little background on Zuko and Azula's childhood under Ozai.

Warning: Suggested Maiko and Zucest ahead.

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**One _First _Kiss**

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The sand felt great squishing between his toes, but fourteen-year old Zuko Azulon would never confess to enjoying something so well… girly. Speaking of girls… He casually glanced at the three girls currently building a sand castle just out of reach of the surf. Well, two of the girls were building, his sister was "supervising" as she liked to call it. Mai and Ty Lee were duly following orders lest she decide she didn't want them to be her friends anymore. 

No twelve-year old should have that kind of power.

Ever since his mother told him, one rainy day this past fall, that he must treat Azula especially kind during what she referred to as "her special time" that would visit once a month… _and I am supposed to just guess when that is because I still remember the bruise I got the last time I asked_… his sister had been a royal… Well, he wasn't allowed to say words like that… or think them either.

His lips twist and his eyes dart from side to side eventually settling on the girl who just smacked her "friend" in the head for carelessly tripping and knocking over a tower, before he let a furtive whisper escape.

"_Bitch." _

Two seconds after saying that he wanted to take it back. He knew why she was the way she was. One only had to see the way she looked to the stern man standing beside their mother for approval, to understand her motivations.

He had seen her tears and held her when their father raged often enough to know that she was only trying to protect herself. He himself had his own defense mechanisms.

Mai looked up at him at just that moment and he forgot all about his sister and was focused totally on not blushing. She was so pretty… Slim where Azula was curvy. With long dark hair that he bet smelled really good…

Zuko loved the way girls smelled. Clean and fresh like the flowers in his mother's garden.

Of course, he rarely got close enough to one to tell… To his eternal shame, he hadn't even kissed a girl yet. That jerk Hahn at the club kept bragging about all the girls he'd kissed, even claiming to have gotten to second base with one. Zuko wasn't quite sure what "second base" was, but he hated that that pompous idiot Hahn had gotten there first.

His thoughts were interrupted by a mocking voice in his ear. "I know you like her."

He frowned. "I do not." Even though he knew that was a lie. He knew she knew it too. Azula always knew when he lied.

She sat down next to him and started examining her nails. "I guess you won't care if she is kissing Hahn later then?"

"What?!" His voice cracked horribly and he cleared his throat in an attempt to hide the embarrassing evidence of his transition to manhood. Of course, his sister heard it quite clearly and burst out laughing.

"You are such a baby, Zuzu! No wonder Mai likes Hahn better!"

Grabbing her shoulders, he pushed her back into the sand growling into her face. "She does not! Take that back!"

It infuriated him when she just smirked. "I thought you didn't like her?" She wiggled against his grip. "Let me up, you big doofus!"

Before he could do more than gape at her, she tipped her head back towards where their parents sat, his father working on his laptop and his mother reading a novel. "Daddy!!! Zuko is being mean to me!!"

As usual his father didn't give him a chance to make a defense. "Zuko, even ants don't attack members of their own colony. Surely you are more intelligent than an insect?"

Zuko had already let her go the second he heard the censure in Ozai's voice. But instead of leaving it at that, Ozai put his laptop aside and walked over to tower above the siblings. Zuko spared a glance for his mother who had lowered her sunglasses and was now frowning in concern. Of course, she didn't try to stop her husband. Even Azula had sat up by now, looking nervously at their father.

"I believe you owe your sister an apology."

Zuko knew better than to refute that statement. Eyes downcast, he mumbled a quiet, "I'm sorry, Azula."

His sister's subdued acceptance let him know that she could feel the tension in the air as well. But it seemed his father wasn't quite finished with him.

"And since it appears that you cannot enjoy the beach without bullying those weaker than you, I think your energy would be better expended on your studies." No Azulon vacation was complete without the hours of studying Ozai demanded his children do every day. He usually waited until after dinner to enforce this edict but apparently he was in a worse mood than normal.

The sun must have gotten to him, because rather than immediately jumping up to do his father's bidding, Zuko gasped and uttered a plaintive, "But…?"

When he saw the look on his father's face he knew he had made a mistake that would cost him. Dearly.

The hand that gripped his arm and yanked him to his feet was far from gentle and Zuko knew that this was going to be one of _those _days… Out of the corner of his eye he saw Azula reach out to them.

"Daddy… we were just playing. Zuko wasn't really…" she managed to choke out before being interrupted by Ozai's gravely voice.

"My dear child, why don't you go enjoy the surf? You never know when the weather will change."

Zuko turned his head and saw her swallow hard and whisper, "Ok…"

He didn't see what she did after, as he was then dragged back to the cottage. In the distance, Zuko could hear Azula barking at her friends.

"You idiots! Look at my castle! Fix it right now!" It was odd that only he seemed to be able to hear the pain behind her strident voice.

As they passed her lounge chair his mother stood and held out a hand to Ozai.

"Darling, it's still day…"

He turned a glare on her that dropped her hand back to her side. "My dear, if he can't play nicely, he needs to cool his head." The malice underlining his voice belied the innocuousness of his words.

She flicked a sympathetic glance to Zuko before looking back at his father. They stared at one another for an endless moment before Ozai shoved his son inside the house, stepped in and shut the door behind him.

OoooO

Zuko jerked upright as he inadvertently leaned his bruised cheek on his fist. Pain curved around his head behind his eye and the throbbing that had finally ceased began again. He reached for the bottle of pills he had snuck from his mother's Prada bag and bit one in half before swallowing it with a gulp of flat soda from the can next to his book. Grimacing at the foul taste, he tried again to read the paragraph he had already attempted to read three times.

A candy bar plopped down on the book. "I'm sorry…"

He looked up to see Azula standing there. She was biting her lip and her eyes filled again as she reached out to touch his cheek. He moved out of her reach. "Don't."

She knelt at his feet. "I'm so sorry… I didn't mean to get you in trouble…"

He wanted to be angry. He really did. But he could never stay mad at her for long. Even when it was her fault. "It's ok…" He unwrapped the candy and took a bite, thankful that this time his mouth had not been the target of his father's blows.

Azula sat on the floor before him and rested her head on his knee. "I lied before. Mai doesn't really like Hahn. She said he kisses like a fish."

Zuko was so surprised he didn't know which part of that to address first. "She rilly kished hmm?" he mumbled around a mouthful of chocolate and nougat.

Azula lifted her head to look at him. "Oh, don't worry. She hated it. He really does kiss horribly. That gooey thick tongue and so much spit you could drown."

He swallowed and started picking a nut fragment out of his molar. "How'oo 'no?"

She rolled her eyes. "Well, duh stupid. How do you think?"

His jaw dropped open. "No way!" _She couldn't have kissed someone before me! That is so unfair! I'm older! And it was Hahn? Ugh!!! _

"Yes, way. But that's not important. What _is_ important, is _you_ kissing Mai. I can set it up for you, if you like… to, um…" He knew what she was getting at. He touched her hand.

"I'm ok… really." She had always done this. Even as a toddler. After every fight he had with his father he could count on her coming to him with some gesture to make him feel better. He loved her for that.

"So. Mai likes me, huh?" He couldn't stop the cocky grin that slid over his face.

"Don't let it go to your head. If you screw up with her that won't last long. At least I'm sure you can do better than Hahn."

Heat climbed into his cheeks. "Um… well, you see… Promise me you won't laugh!"

A gleam of pure anticipation brightened her eyes. "Whaaaat?"

"Promise."

No angel could look so innocent. "I promise." He knew she was lying but also knew he would tell her regardless. She would find out eventually anyway.

"I… neverkissedagirlbefore" he muttered, looking away.

"What?" She looked at him like he had grown two heads. _Which is probably more common than a boy my age who hasn't even kissed a girl yet, _he thought petulantly.

"You heard me." If she thought he was going to say it again…

She started snickering but stopped at his look. "Sorry, sorry. Look, that's no big deal." He frowned. _How can she think this isn't a big deal?_

"I can teach you."

Now it was his turn to look astounded.

"What?!!"

"Going deaf, brother?" She repeated her offer but punctuated every word with mock sign language.

He grabbed her fingers. "Knock it off. What do you know about kissing anyway?"

"More than you!" She said, laughing.

On a good day Zuko hated being made fun of and today was not a good day. "Why don't you go away?" Letting go of her fingers, he frowned and turned back to his book.

He heard her sigh and she touched his leg. "Ok… I'm sorry. I was just messing with you. Seriously, I don't mind showing you what I know… It might help with Mai."

He looked at her encouraging smile and felt his anger melting away as it always did. "I… guess. But you better never tell anybody!"

"I won't. I promise. For real this time." Her face was dead serious and he knew he could trust her.

"So… what do I do?" Now that he had agreed he felt strangely awkward.

"Come with me." She took his hand and tugged him to her room, grabbing a wooden box along the way.

Shutting the door, she commanded him to sit on the bed and then proceeded to set up a game of chess on the comforter. He looked at her in confusion.

"Um… I know how to play chess… What does this have to do with kissing?" _Did I miss something in health class?_

She just shook her head and sat next to him. "You really are dumb, aren't you? This is what we are doing if mom and dad come in, brainless."

The fact that the possibility of their parents discovering them had never occurred to him kept him from retorting. "Can we just get this over with?"

"I hope you never say that to Mai or you will never get to kiss her. Ok, now the first thing you need to know is where to put your nose."

"My… what?" He blinked. Yeah… he better start taking notes in health class… He was definitely not getting everything.

"Your nose. When you kiss someone you have to tilt your head just so or you bump noses. Like this…" The feel of her cool hands cupping his cheeks and the warm sensation of her lips briefly touching his cut off any questions he had.

"See?" She was smiling again and he smiled back.

"Yeah… now what?" This wasn't so bad… Just wait till he could try it with Mai…

"The second thing is how hard to kiss someone. Girls don't like it when you mash your mouth against theirs. You have to do it soft." Again she leaned in and pressed her mouth to his. This time she let her lips rest against his a little longer. He concentrated on how much pressure she was using. Filing it away for later. A soft noise signaled the separation of their mouths. She sat back and nodded.

"Now you try." Closing her eyes, she puckered up her lips and tilted her chin towards him. He tried not to laugh at the vision she presented and just did as he was told.

He cupped her small face in his hands and tilted his head like she had, pressing his mouth to hers. He just kept doing that, his open eyes darting around the room, until she pushed at him.

"Well, that was dull." Her face was scrunched up into a grimace.

"What? I did what you told me to do!" Now that wasn't fair. He knew he had done it just like she showed him.

"Yeah, like a machine! You didn't even close your eyes. If you kiss Mai like that she won't like you. You have to move your mouth!"

_What?_ "You didn't!"

Frowning at his observation, she muttered, "Fine. Let's try it again." He raised his hands to hold her face and she pushed them down. "I'm the teacher here. Let me show you."

"Some teacher you are…" But he put his hands in his lap and let her take the lead again. This time when she leaned in she didn't immediately press her lips to his but brushed them over his mouth, rubbing them against his lightly before kissing him fully. It gave him a weird feeling in the pit of his belly but he ignored it and tried to pay attention to what she was doing. He had to get this right or Mai would be disappointed.

Eventually, she sat back. "Now you stick your tongue in her mouth."

"Just like that?" It didn't look like that in the movies…

She looked unsure for a second. "Well, yeah. I mean… not like Hahn, but pretty much… I… think."

"You don't know, do you?" He should have known she was lying about how much "experience" she had.

"I _do_ know! I... just haven't done it that much." She scowled and looked down at the fallen chess pieces. He watched her pluck at the blanket in irritation and instead of being annoyed with her prevarication his protective instincts were stirred. Azula was a perfectionist and he knew not knowing how to do something right the first time triggered her insecurities.

He tipped her chin up. "It's alright. We can just try it and see what happens, ok?" He said gently.

"Ok…"

He finally felt like he was the older one when he leaned forward and brushed his mouth against hers. He kept rubbing it over her lips until they parted slightly. He could feel the moistness of her mouth and tentatively slipped his tongue out and licked at it. She made an odd sound and he pulled back until he could see her eyes. She was blinking rapidly and didn't say anything for a second.

"I… think… that seemed… right."

Then she looked in deep thought for a moment. "Try it again. I want to see something."

This time when he touched his tongue to her lips he was startled to feel her meet it with her own. That hesitant touch encouraged him to lick deeper at her mouth, slipping his tongue past her lips to trace her teeth. He was so thankful just then that she was compulsive about brushing them. Her lips parted further and he slid his tongue against hers, enjoying the sensation as he cautiously stroked it. He pressed his mouth tighter against hers, keeping that up until spots danced behind his eyelids and his oxygen threatened to give out. _Gotta figure out how to breathe and do this, passing out while kissing Mai would be a bad idea… _Her hands pushing on his chest signaled that she also wanted him to stop. He sat back, noticing that the feeling in his lower belly had intensified to an insistent ache. It looked like Azula was also affected in some way, as her pale cheeks now bore a light flush. They sat, hearts pounding, and stared at one another for a long instant, each trying to catch their breath.

She laughed suddenly. "You taste like Snickers."

He had to laugh too and soon they were lying back on the bed giggling madly. Gradually, he began to realize that giggling with his little sister wasn't exactly the manliest thing for him to be doing. He abruptly sobered and leaned up on an elbow, watching her pull chess pieces out from under her hips, a happy smile brightening her face.

"Do you think Mai will like that?"

She turned toward him, raised a brow, and gave him a long appraising look before flopping back to the coverlet. "Yeah… you…" She sighed like it was killing her to say the words. It probably was. "you kiss pretty well. For an idiot."

"Thanks… I think."

She sat up, smirking. "Now get out of my room… Perv."

It was the first time she ever called him that… but it wouldn't be the last.

Fin (for now)


	3. Eyeliner Wars

**AN: This takes place about seven years after "One First Kiss". Zuko and Azula are now 21 and 19. They still live at home but are both attending college. This story corresponds to the beginning of The Soap. For more information the links in the profile take you to The Soap itself. : D**

**Most of The Soap fics from now on will be directly taken and fleshed from RP's between The Soap cast. Enjoy!**

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Eyeliner Wars

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It was a stalemate.

He stood, grinning and holding the eyeliner pencil above his head and out of her reach. Standing on her toes, Azula made a grab for it, putting a hand on his shoulder to keep from falling over. Zuko didn't realize just how close he was to her until her breasts rubbed against his chest. The sensation startled him enough to loosen his hold on the eyeliner and lose it to her greedy grasp.

"Got it!"

He laughed, chasing after her. She bolted for the door, but he managed to grab her arm, pulling her out of the way and blocking her path. He stood in front of the door, ready and waiting for her to just try and get past him. With a hand on her hip and a wide grin on her face, she held up the eyeliner.

"Come and get it."

She spun around, running towards the opposite end of the room. He resumed chase, nearly slipping on the rug and causing her to double over in laughter. Yet he regained his balance faster than she had expected, and soon had her pinned against the wall. She wouldn't keep her prize for long. She had nowhere to go. Leaning into her again he concentrated on snatching the slender pencil away. He had just snagged it from her when he felt the smooth slide of her thigh along the inside of his own. He looked down at her in shock.

"What are you _doing?!" _

She just smirked and drew her hand down to rest on his shoulder. She trailed the tips of her nails along the curve behind his ear and he couldn't hold back a shiver.

_The HELL?_

He hadn't moved from his position, too astonished by what she was doing to react. She continued to move her leg in slow teasing drags against him. In the back of his mind he was horrified at how good it felt yet he still didn't retreat. Suddenly, she yanked his head to hers and kissed him hard, slipping her tongue past lips parted with surprise to tangle with his.

Automatically, he kissed her back, giving in to the heat she was generating within him. He didn't notice her moving their bodies or her hand sliding down his arm to grasp his until she jerked out of his grip and jetted for the door.

Before leaving, she turned back, holding the open door in one hand and the eyeliner in the other, a smug expression on her face.

"I _knew_ you wanted me. Perv."

Staring at the empty doorway, Zuko just stood there, stunned. His lips tingled and his jeans were _way _too tight.

"This is so not going in my blog."

TBC

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AN: This marks the very first adult kiss the siblings have ever shared.

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End file.
